May Be Chilly

I realized last night that some of my dishes had been waiting what had finally become weeks. I've been home so little in the last 14 days that the pileup had been gradual, until suddenly I was checking my cabinets and finding no clean bowls.

The weeks ... well, they were full. There was a lot of alcohol involved, especially in the first seven days of the last 14. The Big Work Meeting was a success (I think). Attendees very politely told me that my presentations were great and thorough. I will accept those compliments as honest, and try not to suspect that they were just being nice. I felt that they were pretty good, especially considering I'd been out until almost might the night before with a bunch of the out-of-towners. *innocent cough*

The rest can probably be stated best in pictures:

Yes, that is me indoor skydiving. It was actually a lot of fun — way more than one would expect for something so safe and middle-classy — and I would completely do it again.


Drinks at Whiskeys with Karen and Magi (and Don, too, not pictured).


Maker Faire with Josh and Chuck ... here they are way too pleased. I imagine it feels like they've found the best friend they had always dreamed of from boyhood. Below is me wielding a steampunk style gun.

Gods above, beware.

In other news, I've decided to let my JDate account lapse. For my $80 and two months, I got one whole lackluster date out of the experience. And a lot of cyber flirting with a guy from L.A. All-in-all, I'm not impressed ... so much for fulfilling my mother's dream of bringing home a nice Jewish guy for Thanksgiving. Bah. (The date itself may garner a post all its own if you guys want, but seriously ... it was so bland, it's probably not worth going into the details.)

I'm also scheduled to teach a yarn store owner how to knit a sock in the next couple weeks. The plan is if she thinks I taught her well enough, she'll add me to her schedule as a sock knitting instructor. I'll get to choose my own class times, rates (the store takes I think 50%), sizes ... and get a discount on yarn. It'd be a dream come true ... though probably bad for any goals of decreasing my yarn stash. Here's hoping. Though now I'll have to come up with a curriculum. Ack. Scary ... anyone have any advice from knitting classes they've taken in the past?

Blinding White Legs

I'm beginning to suspect that my legs have long since lost the ability to generate melanin (which I just realized that I've been mistakenly calling "melatonin" all freaking day ... oops). You know, that stuff that makes your skin tan when you're out in the sun? Yeah.

Today was one of those exceptional, beautiful sunny days (hardly a cloud in the sky) that San Francisco has once in a while. It wasn't too hot, there was a nice breeze that wasn't too chilling, and on an invitation to go out to lunch from Leonie and her friend Norma, I decided to take advantage of the ultraviolet rays while I could. I dug into my dresser and pulled out the one skirt I had that still fit and wasn't over-fancy, threw on a tank top, and headed out. My legs seriously see the light of day maybe once or twice a year, so I was hoping today to give them a little color by sitting in the sun and just leaving them exposed.

Surely, one or two of you out there are gasping in shock: exposed to the sun? without a drop of sunblock? What about The Cancer?! To these people, I have this response: perhaps, if I were a regular sun-worshiper and actually lived in a city that got more than 14 days of great sun a year, I'd be worried, too. But the fact of the matter is, I live in San Francisco. I stay indoors most days, getting at most 30 minutes to an hour a day of daylight exposure ... and most of that fully-clothed. Most sunscreen makes me break out in a rash, and when I burn fortunately it fades right into a nice tan instead of going straight back to white. So where's the real incentive to wear sunblock? I'd far rather get a good natural dose of vitamin D, suffer with a burn for 24 hours, than remain pasty-white and/or itch for over a week. It's a real no-brainer. I can buy a fancy hypoallergenic sunblock when I start seeing the wrinkles. Or start actually going outdoors for longer periods of time.

Lunch was at Mojo Bicycle Café, up in the Western Addition. And while the concept of the place is kind of San Francisco hippie-biker-dippie, they actually make an awesome sandwich (I had "The Bird" ... and it was the first time in a long while that I've actually been blown away by a sandwich), have a nice front patio space and a gorgeous backyard space. We spent almost 3 hours lounging around, eating, drinking, chatting, before it was time to go, and my legs were stretched out to best catch the sunlight the entire time.

Unfortunately, I think they're just as white as when I started. Whereas my arms and shoulders ... slightly red over a tan that will hopefully be fabulous by tomorrow or Monday.

Stupid legs.

Tomorrow I have a "date" to watch the Sharks game at Kilowatt (haven't been there in over a year, I think). It's game two of the second round of the playoffs, and they're up against the Detroit Red Wings. Game one was a nail-biter, and I'm really excited about game two. I'm trying to not be as excited about the date, so I don't end up disappointed. This is my break back into "the scene". If it goes well, I may write about it. If it goes horribly, I'll definitely blog about it. Because I know that's the kind of adventure you guys are here for.

(And don't worry: we're doing coffee beforehand so that his first impression of me isn't all belligerence and yelling at TV screens. I'm not that naïve.)

5/2 ETA: Never mind on two accounts: My leg (note the singular) did get some color -- a big ol' strip of red down my calf. And the date's canceled on account of sick. Fun.

Tempranillo Hangover

A lot of wine this weekend. Finally hung out with Leonie (from my ceramics class) in a non-classmate function, and I spent most of today with the hangover to prove it.

I don't hit up the Mission often, but last night was a good experience. We started at Fabric8 for an art show reception — her friend Ken has a couple pieces in it, I've seen his work before when Leonie had her birthday party at his house a couple years ago, and if I had a cool $400 lying around I'd seriously consider buying something — most of the rest of the art was kind of typical blasé San Francisco "avant garde" ... meaning that it thinks it's original but still kind of looks the same as everything else. Bonus, however, was the Creme Brûlée Cart parked in the back patio area, which I've heard much of but hadn't come across yet. I give him 4 stars out of 5: I had the basic vanilla flavor (next time I'll have to try the lavender), and it was pretty fantastic, a perfect size, a decent price ... but definitely not the best I've ever had. Pretty high up there, though.

We moved next to Heart, a little wine bar just down the street, and three of us ended up sharing three bottles of Tempranillo. Very nice place, not too pretentious, and they had this amazing BBQ pulled pork slider on the menu that had me melting in my seat.

Got a ride home and stumbled drunkenly through the door at about 1 a.m. I was just ready to pass out when I got a JDate IM from a guy I'd emailed about two or three weeks ago, thanks to my Elsie-challenge. Of course he has to pick the night I'm most incoherent, so I begged off as best I could, and I'm surprised that he still actually wrote me back today. This, plus another guy I've been flirting with via IM (he lives in L.A., though, which is a big ol' minus) have me seriously considering giving JDate one more month's chance. My current subscription expires Tuesday, so I have another day to decide. But it does feel good to flirt again, even if it is pathetically on the internet. Maybe it'll give me the glow and vibe to be able to do it in the real world, too? It's been a long time. Feels nice. Really really nice.